The present invention relates to thermal testing of devices that are being rotated, and more particularly, to testing, calibration, or characterization of angular velocity or acceleration sensors that are being rotated within a thermal chamber.
Many modern electronic devices contain angular velocity and/or acceleration sensors, including aircraft control systems, navigation systems, cell phones, and portable personal computers. These sensors need to be developed, tested, calibrated, and characterized prior to implementation in these devices. Because many of these devices are used in varying climates, the characteristics of the sensors should be measured over a range of temperatures. Also, many of these devices are used for long time periods, over which the sensors can change, so time-based characteristics should also be measured. This testing can be done using a thermal chamber that rotates, but thermal chambers can be so massive that it can be dangerous and expensive to perform testing at even moderate angular velocities.